China: The Elusive Success of Huaxi Village

The village of Huaxi in eastern Jiangsu province announced Aug. 7 that it will launch the country's first village-run aviation company. State newspaper China Daily said the enterprise will bring the village to a "new height" after the construction of the world's 15th-tallest skyscraper was completed in Huaxi in October 2011.

Huaxi is a flagship village characterized as a model for China's communist-style rural industrialization program and for the past decade has been known for its flourishing economy and strong sustainability based on township village enterprises. The village is in stark contrast with the rest of rural China, where the average personal income just reached 6,000 yuan ($944) per year. However, Huaxi's successes are no longer representative of China's rural development. The failure of other attempts at township village enterprises in the past decade is symbolic of China's struggling rural economy. Despite this struggle, the development of China's vast rural area is becoming an urgent need because it could offset the diminishing economic vitality and competitiveness of the country's coastal urban areas.